London Banter - View Single Post - Northern line trip failures = lots of SPADs

[email protected] · October 14th 05, 11:13 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article .com,
() wrote:

Clive wrote:
In message .com,
Boltar writes
Something no one in the media or on here seems to have mentioned is
that the only reason the drivers are noticing so many tripcock
failures
is that so many of these overpaid agitators are going through red
lights! Perhaps while they're fixing the trains they should consider
getting the drivers retrained. How exactly can you miss a red light
in
a slow tube train usually (on the northern line) in a dark tunnel?
They
don't have to worry about other traffic , roadside distractions,
steering etc like a bus driver but if a bus driver went through a red
light I don't think anyone would have much time for him blaming the
bus
for not putting its brakes on!
Perhaps if you tried driving a tube train instead of pontificating
like
Conor, you'd be wiser, and have no need to say anything.
--
Clive
He seems to have made a perfectly valid comment that requires an
answer, I would certainly like to know the answer. On the one hand you
have these highly trained, safety critical £32000pa or is it £35000pa
drivers, who should be capable of stopping a train at a signal. Or are
they irresponsible idiots who require a safety device to stop them at a
signal so that they can concentrate on their ipod.
Surely the purpose of the tripcock wasn't as a safety device just to
save the embarrassment of negligent drivers.
Kevin

The "going through red lights bit" is all ******** that the media have
been spreading - I read it on the BBC website yesterday.

The initial failure was after a train deliberately passed a red signal
when applying the rule due to signal failure. Subsequent failures were
noticed when the trains passed a fixed trainstop and didn't get tripped.

The fixed trainstops were specially fitted on the approach to all termini
so that trains got tripped at least once per trip as a means of tripping
the trains in an effort to check for any other failures (even the
defective ones were being tripped most of the times). Those at Edgware
High Barnet and Morden were removed after a few days, leaving the one in
place on the Mill Hill branch and the one in place in the Kennington loop.
The fifth one that failed was on the Mill Hill branch on Wednesday.

Roger